Childcare, Learning and Education Tools Resources
Tips for Families: Receiving Early Intervention Services Through the Phone, Tablet, or Computer
Tips for receiving remote Early Intervention services
Tips for Helping Students With Hearing Loss in Virtual and In-Person Learning Settings
Teachers and administrators can take steps to meet the unique challenges that virtual and modified in-person learning environments will pose for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Both formats have challenges, but schools and teachers can help children be successful. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) provides these tips for virtual and in-person learning settings.
U.S. Department of Education “Return to School Roadmap” for 2022-23 School Year
The U.S. Department of Education has released the “Return to School Roadmap,” a resource to support students, schools, educators, and communities as they prepare to return to safe, healthy in-person learning this fall and emerge from the pandemic stronger than before.
The Roadmap provides key resources and supports for students, parents, educators, and school communities to build excitement around returning to classrooms this school year and outlines how federal funding can support the safe and sustained return to in-person learning. It includes:
- A fact sheet for schools, families, and communities on the Return to School Roadmap
- A checklist that parents can use to prepare themselves and their children for a safe return to in-person learning this fall, leading with vaccinating eligible children and masking up if students are not yet vaccinated.
The Education Department also has two publications focusing on strategies and practices important for schools to use to regarding COVID and reopening safely.
Volume 1 provides families, schools and the community key health and safety measures for reopening schools. Volume 1 highlights factors that need to be addressed for specific groups of students, including students with disabilities, one of the groups hardest hit by the impact of COVID-19.
Volume 2 provides more specific practices for meeting the basic and other critical needs of students.
The U.S. Department of Education has issued resources specific to the education of students with disabilities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving prevention strategies as schools assess their policies to remain open for in-person learning for everyone.
You can access these documents at:
- Disability Rights | U.S. Department of Education (English and Spanish)
Additional information is available through the Agency’s Office of Special Education Programs at:
Twelve famous museums that offer virtual tours for remote learning.
A collection of sites to live webcams, virtual tours/trips and other miscellaneous fun educational sites.
Wi-Fi Hotspot Map to Support Illinois Students During COVID-19 Pandemic
Illinois state agencies released a Wi-Fi hotspot map to help students across the state who lack internet access in their homes. The map provides detailed information on free drive-up Wi-Fi hotspots at schools, colleges, libraries and other locations across the state.
The tool also provides detailed guest log-in instructions for each hotspot and will be updated in real-time. It is available in both English and Spanish.
The Wide Open School website from Common Sense Media offers families and educators resources on how to support students with disabilities during remote learning.
Its Back-to-School Guide for Families provides a variety of distance learning tips and resources.
Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots in out-of-home locations are available for free to anyone who needs them, including non-Xfinity Internet customers, to keep communities connected with their friends and family during the pandemic.
Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots located both indoors and outdoors in places like shopping districts, parks, businesses and train stations are open. Hotspots located in customers’ homes are not opened to the public.
Youth and Family Center of McHenry County
The Youth and Family Center of McHenry County continues to provide bi-cultural navigation services during the COVID-19 pandemic, remotely or by appointment.
Services include registering for child care and food assistance, helping to understand and translate documents, finding financial assistance, food pantry assistance, finding mental health services, employment services, English classes and more.
You can review the center’s flyer, provided in Spanish and English, for more information.
You can schedule an appointment online or call the main office in McHenry at (815) 322-2357. Please provide a full name and phone number to receive a callback.